The Plumbline

So I beg you, brothers and sisters, because of the great mercy God has shown us, offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him—an offering that is only for God and pleasing to him. Considering what he has done, it is only right that you should worship him in this way. ( Romans 12:1   ERV ) How exactly does one offer their life as a living sacrifice to God? If we were to take this literally, one might think about needing to die as a martyr for God, as one might for a "good cause". If we were to merely think of this figuratively, one might reason it is some type of reference to the amount of time we spend at church, doing "work" for the church or community. While neither of these is bad, it isn't the intent of the passage. Paul is reminding the Roman church of how much God's grace has accomplished in their lives to deliver them from "religious pursuit" and from having to make all things right in their lives by their own effort. In other words, he ...

“But maybe you don’t want to serve the  Lord . You must choose for yourselves today. Today you must decide who you will serve. Will you serve the gods that your ancestors worshiped when they lived on the other side of the Euphrates River? Or will you serve the gods of the Amorites who lived in this land? You must choose for yourselves. But as for me and my family, we will serve the  Lord .” ( Joshua 24:15   ERV ) We all serve something. It may be we serve ourselves - paying close attention to our needs and wants, while shutting out the needs and wants of those around us. We might serve others - doing all they demand and even more, but ignoring all the needs of our own body, mind, or soul. We could even serve something - not a person, but rather an object that has become the central focus of our existence, such as alcohol, drugs, or addictive substance. It really isn't as much a matter of "serving" as it is making a choice as to who or what we will allow in that space r...